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3. Stichomythia and σκώμματα: Euripides’ Cyclops, Aristophanes’ Wealth, and Plato’s Euthydemus

3. Stichomythia and σκώμματα: Euripides’ Cyclops, Aristophanes’ Wealth, and Plato’s Euthydemus One of the most interesting adaptations of stichomythia in satyr play and late Old Comedy is that its structure is deliberately made to incorporate ridicule and abuse. Something of the structural formalism of tragic stichomythia remains, but the main point is clearly for one member in the exchange to ridicule the other. The ridicule is enhanced… Read more

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Note on Terminology and Transliteration

A Note on Terminology and Transliteration By way of explanation rather than apology, I should clarify what I mean by the term “literary” in the title of this book. I do not mean to claim that the Life and Miracles is high literature on the level of Homer, the tragedians, or the ideal Greek Romances. However, I would suggest that the difference between the Life and Miracles… Read more

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Outline

Outline of the Life and Miracles of Thekla (chapter numbers based on the critical text, Dagron 1978:168–412) Life Preface 1–13at Iconium 14outside Iconium 15–24at Antioch 25–26at Myra 27–28from Myra to Iconium, then Seleukeia 29disappearance into the ground; spiritual activities Miracles Preface 1–4 Thekla fights against daimones 5–11various miracles of defending, helping, and healing locals 12two… Read more

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Epigraph

Epigraph Et sic proficiscens de Anthiocia faciens iter per mansiones aliquot perueni ad prouinciam, quae Cilicia appellatur, quae habet ciuitatem metropolim Tharso, ubi quidem Tharso et eundo Ierusolimam iam fueram. Sed quoniam de Tharso tertia mansione, id est in Hisauria, est martyrium sanctae Teclae, gratum fuit satis ut etiam illuc ac-cedere, presertim cum tam in proximo esset. Nam proficiscens de Tharso perueni ad quandam ciuitatem… Read more

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Preface

Preface The appearance of Scott Johnson’s The Life and Miracles of Thekla, A Literary Study in the series “Hellenic Studies” marks an important new direction for the publications program of the Center for Hellenic Studies. The field of study represented by this book is Late Antiquity, a vital era of transition from the Classical to the Byzantine and the Modern Greek eras. The world of Late Antiquity,… Read more

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Introduction

Introduction [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book.] The extended epigraph printed on the previous pages comprises the… Read more

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1. Paraphrase in Practice

Chapter 1. Paraphrase in Practice: The Life of Thekla and Literary Inheritance in Late Antiquity The Ever-Present Past in the Life and Miracles The form of the literary paraphrase says a great deal about what the author of the Life of Thekla is attempting to do in literary historical terms: by choosing to write a saint’s Life through the lens of a second-century apocryphon, the author… Read more

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2. Biblical Rewriting and the Metaphrastic Habit

Chapter 2. Biblical Rewriting and the Metaphrastic Habit: The Life of Thekla within the History of Ancient Paraphrase Prologue: Erasmus and the Conflict over his Paraphrases on the New Testament For a paraphrase is a plain setting foorth of a texte or sentence more at large, with such circumstance of mo [i.e. more] and other wordes as maie make the sentence open, clere, plain,… Read more

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3. History, Narrative, and Miracle in Late Antique Seleukeia

Chapter 3. History, Narrative, and Miracle in Late Antique Seleukeia: Thekla’s θαύµατα and their Collector Introduction: Herodotean Precedent and the Autobiographical Rhetoric of Miracle-Collecting The short history of paraphrase presented in the last chapter was not designed to be comprehensive but only to point to the widespread use of the form in early Christian and late antique literature. The issue of form is central, I argue,… Read more

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4. Greek Wonders

Chapter 4. Greek Wonders: Classical Models for Christian Miracle Collections [1] Introduction: Mistaking Content for Form The question of whether classical literature had a formative influence on the genre of the Christian miracle collection in late antiquity was left unaddressed by André-Jean Festugière’s well known selection of translations, Collections grecques de miracles: Sainte Thècle, Saints Côme et Damien, Saints Cyr et… Read more